Express & Star

Overseas firms create 4,500 jobs for West Midlands

The West Midlands has become a hotspot for investment by overseas companies looking to expand in the UK and Europe, new figures show, as they created 4,500 jobs last year.

Published

The region has seen the best investment figures from foreign companies in a decade, new research has revealed, attracting 65 projects in 2014.

Three of the schemes took place in the Black Country. US aerospace giant UTAS is moving the Marston's Aerospace heat exchanger business from Wobaston Road into new premises at its Stafford Road site in Wolverhampton; French transport company Norbert Dentressangle opened a distributon hub at Brownhills employing 50 people last year; and Malaysian software company iGene invested £1.2m in a new digital autopsy centre at Sandwell Valley Crematorium.

The West Midlands has also been boosted by major schemes from the likes of Jaguar Land Rover – owned by Indian group Tata – which is spending billions of pounds on new vehicles and expanding its factory sites in Wolverhampton, Solihull and Castle Bromwich.

Along with JLR, projects carried out by Indian-owned Amtek and German group Brose in Coventry, created 1,300 jobs. Another 1,000 came from Extraenergy creating its new headquarters in Birmingham.

In 2014 a total of 4,579 jobs were secured from foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the West Midlands, making it the second best performing UK region in terms of employment. Birmingham is now the third most successful city outside of London, attracting 15 projects, according to accountancy EY's annual UK Attractiveness Survey.

Sara Fowler, senior partner at EY in the Midlands, said: "It's been an exceptional year for the West Midlands with record project numbers creating more jobs, which has contributed to 2014 being the most successful year for the region in a decade.

"The ongoing urban regeneration of Birmingham, along with some of the more recent retail developments and infrastructure investments into the city, have undoubtedly had a positive impact and helped to secure our position as an attractive destination for foreign investors."

The biggest source of investment for the region is the USA, but the West Midlands is also popular with companies in Germany, India, France and Sweden.

The UK as a whole is the number one destination for overseas investment in Europe, securing one in five of all the 4,341 investment projects across the continent.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.